Nagpur University shifts BA Music exams at last moment

NAGPUR: The Nagpur University (NU) exam section has postponed three papers of three Bachelor of Arts (BA) Music semesters for unexplained reason. The exams were scheduled for December 3 (BA Sem I), December 8 (BA Sem II) and December 5 (BA Sem V). Now, the first and fifth semester exams will be held on December 6 while the second semester exam will be on December 15. NU officials are tight-lipped about the exact cause for the last minute change in the exam plan. This has affected the preparation and future plans of hundreds of students who were initially confused about the shift in exams. Even before the NU exam section had uploaded the notification, a copy of it was doing the rounds on social media leaving students baffled. The notice was uploaded on November 28 but a couple of days before, students and faculty members were circulating it among themselves. Since the students couldn’t verify the authenticity of the document, they were not sure if the first exam dated December 3 would be held as per original plan. The confusion was cleared only after the officials uploaded the new dates. As the notification doesn’t give any reason for postponing the exams, rumours were rife that the question paper sets were not ready. Board of Studies (Music) chairperson Aparna Agnihotri refused to comment on the issue and referred TOI queries to university authorities. Pro VC Pramod Yeole and director, Board of Examinations and Evaluation, Neeraj Khaty didn’t answer to TOI’s calls and SMS.

The NU administration’s silence on the issue is surprising. The exam section has been specifically stating the reason whenever an exam is re-scheduled. Last month, several exams had to be shifted after the officials erroneously had planned them on November 21 which was a public holiday declared by the state government on account of Eid-e-Milad. NU officials claimed that the exams were overlapping with other exams. However, when TOI checked there was no such problem and instead in the new plan two exams will be held on the same day, December 6.